Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National
Committee, on Friday sought to immediately retract claims that
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is acting more responsibly than
President Trump.

"North Korea is a serious thing," Ellison, D-Minn., told
attendees at the NetrootsNation conference during a
question-and-answer session. "You have this guy making bellicose
threats against somebody else who has very little to lose over
there. Kim Jong Un, the world always thought he was not a
responsible leader; well, he's acting more responsible than this
guy is."

Ellison immediately retracted those remarks in
aninterviewwith
a Washington Post reporter after leaving the panel.

"That was one of those I wish I'd not said," Ellison told the
Post. "It's tailor-made for somebody to misuse. I'd say, he's
being incredibly irresponsible, and he's putting us in a
situation where you could have an accidental launch.

Ellison warned Trump's rhetoric could spur Kim to take action
first and called for someone to bring "calm to the situation, not
spiking it."

Trump has not backed down from his fiery warnings from North
Korea, offering athird stern
warningin a week to Pyongyang on Friday.

"If [Kim] utters one threat in the form of an overt threat ... or
if he does anything with respect to Guam or any place else that's
an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret
it and he will regret it fast," Trump told reporters at his golf
club in Bedminster, N.J., Friday.